Shagbark Hickory

This sentinel embodies the classic form of mature shagbark hickory with its large peeling strips of bark.

Latin name

Carya ovata

Fun facts

Shagbark hickory nuts were once a staple of the Algonquin diet. The brown creeper will wedge its nests in the space created by the bark strips. Early European immigrants used the wood to craft tool handles, wagon wheels, and ladders. Hickory smoke is used to flavor meats and cheeses.

How to identify this tree:

Leaf

Shagbark hickories have compound leaves divided into five or sometimes seven smaller leaflets. Lower leaflets are often smaller.

Nut

The shagbark hickory produces nuts, maturing in autumn, with a yellow-green hull that splits into four segments.

Bark

Although maples, especially red maple, can have peeling bark, the dimensions of the strips are dwarfed by those of shagbark hickory. Mature trees, such as this one, have bark that appears to have been run through a coarse shredder.

Relatives and look-alikes

Bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis) has 7-11 leaflets and yellow end buds. Pignut hickory (Carya glabra) has a similar number of leaflets but has much shorter end buds, nuts with brown rather than yellow-green hulls. Both bitternut hickory and pignut hickory lack ‘shaggy’ bark. White ash also has compound leaves, but these are opposite. In addition, white ash produces winged fruit, not the large nuts of hickory species.